mediaworkshttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk
we are mediaworks, the creative search agencyWed, 25 Mar 2015 12:05:58 +0000en-UShourly1Bing it on or Bing it off?https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/bing-it-on-or-bing-it-off/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/bing-it-on-or-bing-it-off/#commentsTue, 24 Mar 2015 15:31:21 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6195With Google owning 87.97% of the UK search engine market share (StatCounter, February 2015), and social PPC offering bigger and better advertising options than ever before, what does Bing bring to the table? Bing’s 7.16% UK market share goes a long way if you’re targeting the right audience. So, what are the main benefits for... Read more »

]]>With Google owning 87.97% of the UK search engine market share (StatCounter, February 2015), and social PPC offering bigger and better advertising options than ever before, what does Bing bring to the table?

Bing’s 7.16% UK market share goes a long way if you’re targeting the right audience. So, what are the main benefits for advertisers?

Who uses Bing?

We’ve studied Google Analytics to understand the age and gender of search engine users, and the results are in: an older demographic is using Bing, compared to Google.

In the example below, 43.17% of Bing visits are from people over 34, whereas only 29.9% of Google visitors are over 34.

The above graph shows the percentage of Bing users per age group.

The above graph shows the percentage of Google users per age group.

Who is your target audience? A similar trend is replicated across various Google Analytics data, so if your ads are targeting the older population, chances are that you’ll increase your sessions by promoting your brand on Bing!

Do visitors from Bing buy more often or spend more?

After assessing a number of Analytics accounts, the e-commerce conversion rate can fluctuate by up to 44% in Bing’s favour! And despite occupying a smaller share of the search market, the average order value is often higher when someone shops from Bing. Google’s closest rival is proving to be quite a hit in driving qualified traffic with intent to purchase:

Where are Bing ads seen?

Many advertisers don’t expect the Bing audience to reach further than the people using Internet Explorer’s default search box. However, Bing’s search results are shown to more than just desktop, tablet and mobile search engine users:

Xbox Live — At present, Xbox users can browse Xbox Live Marketplace content using Bing. The ability to search the web is looking to come into play soon.

Siri — When Apple launched iOS 7, they enabled Bing as Siri’s default search engine. Users can switch to show Google results if they wish (or Twitter or Wikipedia), but whenever potential purchasers tell Siri to “search the web”, Bing advertisers have the opportunity to place their ads in front of a hands-free audience!

Cortana — Of course, Microsoft’s answer to Siri is going to use the Bing search engine too.

Is Bing expensive?

If you’re advertising on AdWords and are struggling to keep your cost per click (CPC) low, allocating some of your marketing budget to Bing might be a good tactic.

We know that an influx of advertisers is a sure-fire way to drive CPC up, but as there is significantly less competition on Bing, advertisers are likely to get more click for their buck. A recent AdGooroo study confirmed these suspicions, with their test showing that, depending on industry, Bing ads were 37-77% cheaper than AdWords. However, Google’s platform still maintained the higher paid ad click-through rate.

If you want to find out more information about advertising on Bing, contact us today!

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/bing-it-on-or-bing-it-off/feed/0#HappySoundsLike – Mediaworks nominate the songs that bring a smile to their faceshttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/happysoundslike-mediaworks-nominate-the-songs-that-bring-a-smile-to-their-faces/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/happysoundslike-mediaworks-nominate-the-songs-that-bring-a-smile-to-their-faces/#commentsFri, 20 Mar 2015 10:10:40 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6173What does happiness sound like? That is the question the United Nations is asking as part of its latest campaign to support this year’s International Day of Happiness. #HappySoundsLike is a global appeal for people to “nominate a song that brings a smile to your face”, and given the intense debates about the playlist in the Mediaworks... Read more »

]]>What does happiness sound like? That is the question the United Nations is asking as part of its latest campaign to support this year’s International Day of Happiness.

#HappySoundsLike is a global appeal for people to “nominate a song that brings a smile to your face”, and given the intense debates about the playlist in the Mediaworks office, we thought we’ve asked some of our staff what song makes them happy.

“I love Happy Hour by The Housemartins. It reminds me of my school days, sunny afternoons, desert boots and Nike cagoules. Hull 4, London 0? Dunno’ about that but ‘Happy Hour’ put a smile on plenty of Kentish faces back in 1986.”

“It’s hard not to ‘feel love’ and happy when you hear this song. I think the words and build-up at the beginning literally charges you up and nothing else matters in that moment, you’re carefree and ready for anything!”

Duke Dumont - The Giver [Reprise] (Craig Bradshaw – Head of Creative)

“I loved the original version of this song when it came out in 2012, but I guarantee that this updated version will be one of the songs of the summer! The addition of a vocal to a dance track can sometimes spoil it, but this one somehow manages to stay faithful to the original whilst also managing to adding an element of classic Chicago House.”

Cab Calloway - Happy Feet (Beth Dennis - Digital Marketing Manager)

The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun (Will Cook - SEO Executive)

“Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles is a great positive mood song as it incorporates a few different factors. Firstly, the backing tune is both catchy & positive. The song is written in the key of A major – major keys encompass notes perceived as being ‘happy’ by the general population, and so instantly puts a positive vibe to the song. The song opens with the refrain “here comes the sun”. Sunlight tends to make people happy, adding to the positive emphasis. Additionally, this conjures up mental imagery of a new dawn, which is widely seen as a happy occurrence given its association with making a fresh start. This ‘new start’ theme reappears in other lyrics within the song, such as “it’s been a long cold lonely winter” & “the smiles returning to the faces”, both of which suggest that negativity is in the past and is being replaced by something positive. The song finishes on the line “It’s all right, it’s all right”, providing reassurance to the listener that although we are entering a new phase, we are right to leave the negative past behind and embrace the bright future ahead.”

Cast - Alright (Ross Palmer - Head of Design)

“This was my introduction to Britpop, and the start of my musical generation. A perfect three and half minute pop song but played with lads and loud guitars who wore trainers and parkas. Impossible to listen to without tapping your feet and drumming your desk like an idiot. And it was a cracking album too – happy days. Can’t believe it’s 20 years old. I feel less happy about that.”

Do you agree with any of our choices? Feel free to let us know what song makes you happy in the comments below.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/happysoundslike-mediaworks-nominate-the-songs-that-bring-a-smile-to-their-faces/feed/0Mediaworks shortlisted at The Prolific North Awards 2015https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/mediaworks-shortlisted-at-the-prolific-north-awards-2015/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/mediaworks-shortlisted-at-the-prolific-north-awards-2015/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 13:00:45 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6169It’s time to dust-off the tuxedos once again! Following on from being listed in The Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agencies 2015 at the end of February, we have also been nominated for the ‘Large Digital Agency’ prize at The Prolific North Awards 2015. The shortlist for the awards was announced by Prolific North this... Read more »

The shortlist for the awards was announced by Prolific North this morning, ahead of the third annual awards dinner at The Point at Lancashire County Cricket Club on Thursday 30 April. Entries were submitted by over 250 companies, institutions and organisations from across the North, and Mediaworks is extremely proud to be one of the shortlisted companies; demonstrating the enormous range of creative talent that is booming across the region.

Speaking of the achievement, Mediaworks’ founder and Managing Director, Brett Jacobson, said: “Once again, we’re thrilled that Mediaworks has been shortlisted for the Large Digital Agency award. The calibre of organisations in this year’s category is exceptional and we’re happy to see that our blend of creativity and essential technical skills is positioning us as one of the best large agencies to work with.”

Rooted in Newcastle as a specialist in creative search, we are extremely proud to have made the list. We would also like to thank Prolific North and the hard-working and highly experienced group of judges for their time and effort and we look forward to seeing continued success in the future.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/mediaworks-shortlisted-at-the-prolific-north-awards-2015/feed/0Disavow: A case studyhttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/disavow-a-case-study/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/disavow-a-case-study/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 09:18:18 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6163Previously, Google updated their Penguin algorithm to include a continuous update cycle. With this in mind, we thought it was time to discuss disavows. The internet has been awash with confusion over the effectiveness of disavow files, the time they take to impact a site and the value of disavowing over link removal. While we... Read more »

]]>Previously, Google updated their Penguin algorithm to include a continuous update cycle. With this in mind, we thought it was time to discuss disavows.

The internet has been awash with confusion over the effectiveness of disavow files, the time they take to impact a site and the value of disavowing over link removal.

While we do not have exclusive Google insights about the inner workings of this misunderstood tool, we do have a compelling study into the impact it has had for one of our clients.

Background

Our client operates a brochure site within the B2B retail sector. The brand aims to generate business leads and provide information for those interested in the company. While the site had not received a penalty, a slow slide of rankings prompted us to carry out a full backlink review to ensure all links met Google’s quality guidelines.

Methodology

First of all, we needed to collate a list of the clients’ backlinks. We downloaded links from multiple sources, including Google Webmaster Tools, Moz, AHRefs and Majestic.

After removing duplicate links, we checked each domain individually, looking at the overall viability of the domain as a trusted linking source. Checking sample links was also an important part of this procedure, as we discovered a number of otherwise healthy domains with links pointing from footers in forums, all with very similar anchor text.

Spending extra time checking sample links was well worth it to weed out these bad links from good domains.

How do you track it?

Now we have our disavow file compiled and submitted to Google, the next question is how do we track the impact it has? We considered using traffic levels but ruled this option out, as external factors can cause the levels to fluctuate too greatly to provide a meaningful conclusion.

As such, we decided the only real way to provide insight was to track ranking positions over time and analyse any trends that emerged.

Off the back of this decision, we collated as extensive a list of relevant keywords for the client. This included all keywords we had previously tracked, as well as looking at sources such as Searchmetrics for additional suggestions. We ended up with a list of around 200 keywords, which we proceeded to track weekly for a period of 2 months.

Outcomes

The first week of data was certainly not ideal. 77 keywords had improved their ranking positions from the benchmark, but 62 keywords had dropped positions and we had seen a net loss of 237 positions. This improved weekly however, up until week four, at which point we had a net gain of 4 positions. By this point, we had appeared to have prevented the rankings from continuing to drop, which was our primary goal.

As of week eight, things had improved drastically, even from week four. Looking at the latest statistics, we had improved 102 keywords positions within the SERPs, which works out as 54% of all tracked keywords.

Our net gain by week eight was 824 positions. We have included our week-by-week tracking of these metrics below.

Week No.

Keywords Improved

Keywords Dropped

Static Keywords

Net Position Gain

Week 1

77

62

51

-237

Week 2

82

63

45

-287

Week 3

78

60

52

-3

Week 4

76

67

47

4

Week 5

89

56

45

206

Week 6

95

63

32

696

Week 7

94

59

37

736

Week 8

102

52

36

824

Conclusion

So what can we draw from this data? Firstly, it is important to note that this is an isolated case study and, while we have been extremely satisfied with the impact the disavow process has had, we cannot promise this can be replicated across other sites. We also acknowledge that link removal is a more effective method to these ends, and a combination of link removal with a disavow process is the optimal way to regain rankings.

We have, however, been able to say with a reasonable amount of certainty that disavow files both work and work fairly quickly. We were able to bring our rankings slide to a stop after 3-4 weeks and improve hugely in the weeks following.

What we have not been able to conclude is the amount of time it takes the disavowal process to take full effect. Our clients’ rankings are still improving after 2 months, with no signs of slowing down. We will continue to track these rankings for the foreseeable future and, if we manage to glean further insight from this, you’ll be the first to know.

Has your site suffered a drop in rankings? Got questions about the disavow process? Don’t hesitate to contact us.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/disavow-a-case-study/feed/0Mastering the Twitter Advertising Platformhttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/mastering-the-twitter-advertising-platform/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/mastering-the-twitter-advertising-platform/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 08:57:39 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6148For most companies who use PPC advertising, AdWords is their bread and butter and only digital cash flow generator. And this is fine — many brands do very well using AdWords alone. The problem is AdWords is competitive. More competition means more bidders, resulting in higher cost-per-clicks and higher cost per acquisitions! Tell your profit margins... Read more »

]]>For most companies who use PPC advertising, AdWords is their bread and butter and only digital cash flow generator. And this is fine — many brands do very well using AdWords alone.

The problem is AdWords is competitive. More competition means more bidders, resulting in higher cost-per-clicks and higher cost per acquisitions! Tell your profit margins to batten down the hatches as things are only going to get tougher.

Thankfully, there are alternative advertising platforms available. In truth, there has never been a better time to start using them.

According to Twitter themselves, the platform currently has 284 million monthly active users sending 500 million Tweets per day. Not only this, but 80% of Twitter active users are on mobile. 77% of accounts are outside the U.S and Twitter supports 35+ languages. That’s pretty impressive.

What can I use Twitter advertising for?

Gain A Bigger Reach

Ads grow your Twitter followers significantly. The more followers you have means that there are more people who will potentially see your tweets – this is called “reach”. When tweeting details of brand promotions, you can see why having a bigger reach is preferable.

Raise Brand Awareness

Awareness ads allow your company to be discovered by both potential and existing customers. You can import existing customer details into your campaign targeting, as we’ll discuss later.

Push Engagement

Having followers you can immediately talk to and get feedback from is very useful. Twitter is a great platform for market research, helping you understand how customers view your business, products and services.

It can also be used for conducting surveys without irritating people! Tweets like “Are there any products that you wish we stocked?” or “How is everyone finding our new website? Encountered any issues?” are perfect examples of things you can ask your audience.

Website clicks & conversions

Twitter offers a similar service to Google AdWords, but cheaper and with more interesting targeting methods. Twitter allows the advertiser to create an ad and choose who sees it. The ad is created in the form of a promoted tweet and will appear on your target audience’s Twitter feed as a tweet from your company.

You can use the tweets to drive traffic to product pages, blog posts and sign-up forms. Twitter ads tend to be cheaper in terms of CPC when compared to AdWords. For example, the keyword ‘weight loss’ has a Google suggested bid of £1.97. However, on Twitter, the suggested bid is just £1.

Keep in mind that Twitter sees significantly less traffic than Google and people may not be primarily on Twitter to shop or consume

Twitter’s Targeting Options

Twitter allows us to get creative with the targeting of our campaigns. We have the standard location, gender, language and device options, along with the interesting ‘additional targeting criteria’. It is here where we can really refine who sees the advertisements, as the screen grab below shows.

Add Keyword Targeting

Just like other SEM platforms, Twitter gives us the option to target keywords. The ad interface also gives us an idea of the global daily activity on each of the keywords we choose.

Keywords can be included as trending, like #BestShoesEver for example. However, this usually only works as a short-term tactic, as trending hashtags can quickly become old news.

Keeping campaigns highly targeted is best-practice. If you’re selling Nike shoes, you should first look to target ‘Nike shoes’ rather than ‘shoes’, as the latter term is too broad.

Add Follower Targeting

You can target your ad to the followers of certain Twitter accounts. For example, if you’re selling fitness equipment, why not target your Twitter ad at the followers of gym companies?

Note: When targeting usernames, Twitter recommends that you do not add interest targeting into the same campaigns. Instead, create another campaign for interest targeting.

Add Tailored Audience Targeting

If you have a list of customer email addresses, mobile phone numbers, Twitter usernames, Twitter IDs or mobile advertising IDs, you can import these into your campaign to target these individuals specifically. You will need to import these lists in the form of a .CSV or .TXT file.

Website visitors (Remarketing)

By installing a small line of code on every page of your website, Twitter can compile a list of everyone who visits your website. If any of these visitors have a Twitter account, you can use the platform to advertise to them.

The early bird catches the worm, so set up your first Twitter campaign and unleash your brand’s sales potential.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/mastering-the-twitter-advertising-platform/feed/0Webinar: Effective Outreach: More Links or More Money?https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-effective-outreach-more-links-or-more-money/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-effective-outreach-more-links-or-more-money/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 08:46:27 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6143Links are often regarded as the crowning glory of SEO. With a carefully picked selection in tow, you’re fully prepared to occupy the top spot on Google’s results pages — or are you? There’s no denying that links play an important part in Google’s ranking process. However, many brands fail to recognise that the search... Read more »

]]>Links are often regarded as the crowning glory of SEO. With a carefully picked selection in tow, you’re fully prepared to occupy the top spot on Google’s results pages — or are you?

There’s no denying that links play an important part in Google’s ranking process. However, many brands fail to recognise that the search giant actually considers over 200 different factors when reviewing a site.

Focusing all of your time, energy and attention on gaining links leaves serious loopholes in your digital strategy. If left unchecked, you could find yourself missing out on the top spot, leaving the marketplace open for your competitors.

Thankfully, our Head of Creative, Craig Bradshaw, is here to help. At 1pm on Tuesday 31st March, Craig will be hosting our latest webinar, Effective Outreach: More Links or More Money?

During the event, he will be discussing why you shouldn’t make link volume numbers the sole target of your organic search campaign. Topics covered include:

How links play just a small part in a campaign’s performance.

The alternative metrics and KPIs you should also target.

How to implement these methods to maximise rankings and user engagement.

Click here to sign up to our webinar and start perfecting your digital marketing campaign. For more information, contact our Communications and Events Manager, Jayne Parsley-Walsh, at events@mediaworks.co.uk or on 0191 404 0100.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-effective-outreach-more-links-or-more-money/feed/0Knowledge Based Trust: Ranking Based on Facts, Not Links?https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/knowledge-based-trust-ranking-based-facts-links/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/knowledge-based-trust-ranking-based-facts-links/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 17:21:53 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6053We all know that the quality of your website is currently derived using signals that are external to the website itself, such as the trust, relevance and diversity of links pointing towards it. However, according to New Scientist magazine it appears that in the near future, Google may value the accuracy of your content more... Read more »

We all know that the quality of your website is currently derived using signals that are external to the website itself, such as the trust, relevance and diversity of links pointing towards it.
However, according to New Scientist magazine it appears that in the near future, Google may value the accuracy of your content more than the quality of your backlinks.

The system is based on something called a Knowledge-Based Trust (KBT) score, which would be calculated by cross referencing the 2.8 billion facts stored in Google’s Knowledge Vault with the content on a given webpage or domain. The pages that are found to be more accurate will be rewarded presumably in the form of higher rankings. In cases where a single web page doesn’t have enough facts, the paper proposes relying using additional pages from the same website to better determine trustworthiness.

Interestingly, the authors say that the preliminary empirical tests of KBT have been promising:

“We applied it to 2.8 billion triples extracted from the web, and were thus able to reliably predict the trustworthiness of 119 million web pages and 5.6 million websites.”(NB: The paper uses “triples” to describe the facts found and extracted from web pages, as they consist of subject-predicate-object expressions, such as Barack Obama, nationality, USA).

Google has been building a massive database of known facts for years, and in 2012 introduced its Knowledge Graph. For those of you that don’t know, the Knowledge Graph is the source of those information boxes and carousels that show up in Google search results, usually for queries that are related to places, people, and other ‘known’ entities such as films and books.

However, I can envisage a few difficulties in applying the KBT concept uniformly across the internet; primarily web pages that don’t exist to share facts (satirical website such as The Onion for one), or aren’t about entities that exist in a Knowledge Graph-style database (websites about new technology or new discoveries).

To accommodate this current concept, the authors suggest that the KBT method of measuring trustworthiness “provides an additional signal for evaluating the quality of a website,” and could be used “in conjunction with existing signals such as PageRank” — not necessarily as a replacement.

If you look at the charts in the paper, you can see just how well PageRank and the KBT score complement each other.

This isn’t the first time that Google has looked into ways of excluding links from Google’s Algorithm. Matt Cutts acknowledged in February 2014 that Google had tested their search results by turning off link data as part of their algorithm. However, at the time, Matt Cutts said the results would be “much much worse” if they did indeed do that in real life.

This suggests that external signals such as links are likely to be a part of Google’s Algorithm for a while longer. However, instead of attempting to manipulate rankings through links, brands should treat links in exactly the same way they would treat offline marketing and traditional PR; namely aiming to focus on assets that are valuable to who they want to connect with and in-line with how the brand wants to be perceived.

*For anyone wondering what the image at the top of the article has to do with the content. Absolutely nothing. Twentieth Century Fox has teamed up with Getty Images to create a set of stock photos to promote their new movie, Unfinished Business, featuring Vince Vaughn along with co-stars Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco and others. It’s a great example of a different way of connecting with an audience, and you can see the rest of the images here.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/knowledge-based-trust-ranking-based-facts-links/feed/0Webinar: Paid Search: New Platforms, New Audience, New Saleshttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-paid-search-new-platforms-new-audience-new-sales/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-paid-search-new-platforms-new-audience-new-sales/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 13:03:15 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6048Over the years, Google AdWords has become the go-to tool for digital marketers. While it still remains critically important, your marketing strategies could be missing out on a potentially lucrative market: social media users. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have dominated for some time now. According to Statista, the end of 2014 saw almost 1.4 billion... Read more »

]]>Over the years, Google AdWords has become the go-to tool for digital marketers. While it still remains critically important, your marketing strategies could be missing out on a potentially lucrative market: social media users.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have dominated for some time now. According to Statista, the end of 2014 saw almost 1.4 billion active users on Facebook alone. Throw in 288 million active Twitter users and 347 million active LinkedIn users and it’s clear to see that social media is big business.

Still don’t have a social media ad campaign set up? Join our Head of PPC, Hannah Mattinson, for our latest webinar, Paid Search: New Platforms, New Audience, New Sales.

Taking place at 1pm on Thursday March 12th, Hannah will explain how to conquer advertising on the big three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. She will be covering:

The benefits of having ads on each platform.

How to integrate your social media ad campaigns with your other advertisement strategies.

The variety of demographics on each of channel.

If you’re still struggling with social media, you can’t afford to miss our latest webinar. Click here to register and secure your place today.

For further information about this or any of our future events, contact our Communications and Events Manager, Jayne Parsley-Walsh, at events@mediaworks.co.uk or on 0191 404 0100.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/event/webinar-paid-search-new-platforms-new-audience-new-sales/feed/0Twitter developments: what they mean for your brandhttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/twitter-developments-mean-brand/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/twitter-developments-mean-brand/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 13:22:22 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6021According to Statista, there’s 284 million monthly active users now on Twitter. If this isn’t reason enough to start representing your brand across one of the biggest social media channels, recent developments should certainly have you signing up. Tweets & Search In an attempt to expand their reach, Twitter has struck a deal with Google... Read more »

]]>According to Statista, there’s 284 million monthly active users now on Twitter. If this isn’t reason enough to start representing your brand across one of the biggest social media channels, recent developments should certainly have you signing up.

Tweets & Search

In an attempt to expand their reach, Twitter has struck a deal with Google that will make tweets visible in search results.

Set to launch later in the year, your tweets could feature prominently on Google’s organic search results or news pages. Subsequently, this means your communications have the potential to be seen by both followers and prospective new audiences.

The impact

The development is likely to have a huge impact on your brand, both positively and negatively. On a lighter note, the changes can help your tweets reach more people and disseminate your message further. Once in place, your brand may experience increased user interaction and gain more followers on the platform.

However, not all exposure is good. Things don’t always go accordingly on Twitter, as our previous blog post shows. From questionable hashtags to downright carelessness, brands make social media faux pas on a daily basis.

At present, these errors are typically rectified through the removal of the offense-causing tweet and the posting of a swift apology. However, if the tweet is included in Google’s results pages, the embarrassment can become much more widespread. As such, the risk posed to brands becomes greater, making it even more important to closely monitor your brand’s reputation online.

Knowledge Graphs are getting social

You’ve probably seen the Google Knowledge Graphs before. They appear at the right-hand side of the SERPs when you search for a brand, personality or location.

A Google Knowledge Graph for actor, Leonardo DiCaprio

Previously, social media links were only shown when searching for a famous personality, as you can see above. However, Google now shows the social media icons when a brand search is performed.

A Google Knowledge Graph for the brand, Starbucks.

So, what does this mean for brands? In short, it means more exposure for your social media accounts. Rather than being hidden further down the SERPs, your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+ accounts are easily accessible, improving the reach of your social presence. As such, it’s vital you manage their content effectively.

Wish you were here

The social media giant has also unveiled a ‘while you were away’ feature. Available for iOS app users, the function displays the top tweets missed during any inactivity.

It’s always important to time your tweets correctly in order to effectively target your audience. However, the change does provide some flexibility for brands. Users could potentially see your tweet long after you post it.

International reach

Does your brand reach an international audience? Using language tools from Microsoft Bing, Twitter can translate your tweets into 40 different languages. Users simply click a globe icon that accompanies your posts.

This can be incredibly useful for a brand looking to expand into an international market, eliminating the need for multiple, country-specific Twitter accounts.

What are you waiting for?

As you can see, Twitter is incredibly accessible for brands. To ensure you’re making the most out of your brand’s account, take a look at our comprehensive guide.

Need further help managing your brand’s reputation online? Contact the team today and find out how we can help.

]]>https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/insight/twitter-developments-mean-brand/feed/0Welcome to the family: Meet the new Mediaworks’ membershttps://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/welcome-family-meet-new-mediaworks-members/
https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/culture/welcome-family-meet-new-mediaworks-members/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 11:22:12 +0000https://www.mediaworks.co.uk/?p=6035On the back of new client wins and further growth, we’ve welcomed another batch of fresh new faces here at Mediaworks. Eight individuals have joined the big blue machine, strengthening key areas of the business. Because we’re always looking for fresh talent, we thought it was high time we introduced you to the new recruits, so... Read more »

]]>On the back of new client wins and further growth, we’ve welcomed another batch of fresh new faces here at Mediaworks.

Eight individuals have joined the big blue machine, strengthening key areas of the business. Because we’re always looking for fresh talent, we thought it was high time we introduced you to the new recruits, so you can see what makes a Mediaworks-er for yourself.

(Back row from left to right: Richard, Gary, Jordan, Ryan, Aidan and Ben. Front row, from left to right: Martha and Henrietta)

Martha Bailey: Client Relationship Manager

Despite getting lost on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Martha is really enjoying her new role and location.

Bringing one hell of a skill set with her, Martha has experience of SEO, PPC and relationship management from her previous employment. Strengthening the fast-paced client services team, she’s really excited about her future here at Mediaworks:

“I don’t think I’ll ever be bored here, every day is different. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the accounts I’m managing and getting to know my clients. Despite the fast pace of the role, the company has a relaxed and friendly attitude, and I felt welcome straight away.”

Ben Hall: Developer

Ben joins Mediaworks after several years working on various front end digital projects at smaller agencies. After showing a real passion for what he does and a desire to progress his career, he was offered a position within the development team. He said:

“The transition to a big agency has been helped by the friendliness of Mediaworks staff — particularly the technical team, whom I have worked closely with in the last three weeks. You have all made the first few weeks a great time for me and I look forward to the future!”

Ryan Burnyeat: Audience Development Apprentice

Having played football for both Doncaster Rovers and in America while studying in Springfield, Missouri, Ryan first heard of Mediaworks through 3aaa, the training providers of his creative apprenticeship.

Joining our outreach team, Ryan was first drawn to the company after he was approached about the role. Reading through it, he said the role sounded interesting and something he would not only enjoy, but be good at. We look forward to helping Ryan with his development, and his team lead Beth will be on hand every step of the way.

Jordan Wilkinson: Audience Development Apprentice

As another addition to our outreach team, Jordan joined us following the completion of a sports journalism internship for an online football blog.

Considering Jordan had been looking for a way into digital marketing, he knew Mediaworks was the perfect opportunity:

“I was attracted to the job the second I saw it. In the opening months, I’m looking forward to getting to know and work with new people, and just getting stuck into the work.”

Henrietta Foy: SEO Consultant

Henretta is the first to admit she’s fixated with detail but she’s used her analytical skills to carve out an impressive SEO career.

Following a successful couple years at another agency, Henrietta became interested in Mediaworks when she heard good things from a friend:

“Recently, I made the move to Mediaworks as I had heard lots of great things about the company. Four weeks in and I’m loving it — everyone is so friendly, helpful and good at what they do!”

Aidan Hudson: Development Apprentice

Following three years working as a freelance Website Designer, Aiden was drawn to the role at Mediaworks after he did a little research on both the people and the culture we promote.

It only took one visit for Aiden to conclude that the development team was the perfect fit he was looking for. Joining as part of our creative apprenticeship scheme, Aiden is looking forward to learning MVC 5 and other tools with Mark and the rest of the team. Speaking of his short time with us, Aiden had this to say:

“I have really enjoyed the past two weeks at Mediaworks, and can’t wait to work here longer — it really seems to just get better each day.”

Richard Dennis: Planning Executive

Organisational whizz Richard followed in the footsteps of his sister Beth, our Digital Marketing Manager, and joined us after she told him of a unique apprenticeship that would not only offer a supportive working environment, but provide positive challenges.

While Richard has only been working with Mediaworks for few weeks, he’s really hit the ground running and is proving a valuable addition to the planning team.

Gary Ward: PPC Executive

Prior to picking up the PPC baton for Mediaworks, Gary was working within a design role at a Yorkshire-based marketing company. Designing websites and campaign content, as well as advising on conversion rate optimization (CRO), Gary was attracted to Mediaworks when looking for a new opportunity in the North East.

Speaking of his time at Mediaworks, Gary said: “My first month has been absolutely great. The whole team has made me feel more than at home, and has bent over backwards to bring me up to speed on the workflow.”

If you’re interested in a career with Mediaworks, visit our jobs page now to see any current vacancies we’re advertising. We love to hear from people who are passionate about digital, so if that’s you, feel free to contact us at info@mediaworks.co.uk.